Saturday, September 7, 2024
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macOS Sierra Siri tip: Conversions and calculations

macOS Sierra brings Siri to the desktop, and Mac users are beginning to find a lot of ways to put Siri to work. One of my favorite uses so far is to use Siri to make unit conversions and do calculations.

Unit Conversions

When we write reviews of products here at Apple World Today, we often show the English measurements (inches, feet, pounds) as well as the Metric measurements (mm, cm, m, grams, kg).  Before Siri, I’d use Google in Safari to perform my conversion. Now, I just ask Siri. For example:

What about mass calculations? 

No problem there. How about converting kilometers per hour to feet per second?

Siri knows some odd units, too. Be sure to try converting a speed to “furlongs per fortnight”…

Currency Conversions

Currency conversions are very useful. When traveling, it’s often a good idea to order local currency ahead of time from a service like Travelex, and if one wants €500 or wants to know what the equivalent of $1,000 is in Brazilian Real, just ask Siri:

Date Calculations

Siri’s also pretty handy in terms of figuring out how many days are left until a certain date:

General Mathematical Calculations

In many cases, clicking the Siri icon in the Dock or the Siri button in the menu bar is faster than launching the calculator app and typing something out. If Siri can’t perform a calculation locally, it passes it along to WolframAlpha, So be sure to try Siri out as a verbal calculator:

These are just a few of the ways that Siri on macOS Sierra can be used to perform conversions and calculations. What are some of your favorite Siri tricks that you’ve tried on your Mac? Let us know in the comments. 

Steve Sande
the authorSteve Sande
Steve is the founder and former publisher of Apple World Today and has authored a number of books about Apple products. He's an avid photographer, an FAA-licensed drone pilot, and a really bad guitarist. Steve and his wife Barb love to travel everywhere!